NCTFA Nationals

This weekend was the second club meet that the UD club team went to this spring. The meet was held at Eastern Kentucky U, which was a fairly nice facility but the conditions, being the end of April in Kentucky, were hot, humid and sunny. The meet itself boiled down to a dual meet between us and Illinois, with a smattering of other club guys as well. They were set on the team title, which surprised us because they had all of their guys doubling or tripling just to pick up little points. We didn't do this and as a result lost the meet by a couple points.

I raced the 5k at 1:45 pm on Sunday. It was pretty awful weather for a distance race, and I had no intention of running for time. All I wanted was the win, which mas made easier by the other main contender (Mike Frigo of Illinois) running the 1500 on Saturday and the 800 two hours before the 5k. The race itself was boring; I led every step of the way and pulled away in the last lap for a comfortable win in 14:55. I regretted not running the 1500, because I'm sure I could have won that as well and still have taken the 5k. Regardless it was a slow, boring race that I ran strictly for position and to exert as little effort as possible.

Me, Teammate Mike O'Brian, Mike Frigo (Illinois)

That's the last 5k of the year for me. With the season winding down, I'll run either a 1500 or a mile this weekend and another 1500 at Swarthmore the first weekend of May to wrap up the season with a fast time. I have yet to take a serious shot at the 1500 and I know I can run around 3:50 in the right race.

Larry Ellis (Princeton) 2012

I got back late last night from the Larry Ellis Friday Night Races. I ran the second (and last) planned fast time-trial 5000 of the season and my goals were the same as last time: be as competitive and smart as possible and run faster than I did last time out. I accomplished those goals and finished in 14:09.87 for 10th place in the fast heat. I ran generally very even splits, with all laps from 1-11 between 67 and 69, only varying due to the pace fluctuations of the pack.

With this race I finally accomplished the "short-term" time goal I had set for myself when I started what I considered to be really serious training the summer before my junior year. 14:10 represented a benchmark for a good college runner, an even time goal to shoot for (straight 68s) and, at the time, a lofty but not impossible goal. Now that I've finally accomplished this, I have a few new goals:

1) Get better at the events above and below the 5k. I still haven't run a 1500 equivalently as fast as my mile PR and my big seasonal goal for that is to break 3:50. As far as the 10k, I won't run one this year, because it never really fit into my schedule and because I found last year that it's basically impossible to train for a good 10k and a good 1500, and I knew I definitely had upside that I wanted to explore at the shorter distance. The other problem with the 10k is that it just takes so much out of your season and I wanted to be able to race at every good opportunity. Next year the 10k could become my main focus, but I'll start thinking about that later on.

2) Take another second per lap off of that 5k time to get under 14:00. This one is self-explanatory, just a logical progression now that I'm down to 14:09. I won't have another opportunity to PR again this season; I'm only running one more 5k and it's at the upcoming NCTFA meet in Kentucky. The race is scheduled to start at 1 pm and will likely be me vs. a 14:19 kid in a tactical race, so I'm not expecting any spectacular times.

3) Somewhat tying in with the sub 14 goal, get fit enough to be able to compete for the win in most major meets. Obviously a sub 14 will still have me buried in the field at the Stanford meets or Mt. SAC, but at least on the east coast a time like that will put me up at the front. To me, the most exciting thing about running is racing and winning; running fast is great and I get a lot of satisfaction from it, but at the end of the day it is only a means to an end. I want to get fit enough that I can take some big scalps in the upcoming seasons.

Colonial Relays 5k

I just got back from the Colonial Relays, hosted by William and Mary. The meet was a great success for the club runners that went. Three of the four of us PR'd and the fourth ran his second-best time. I got into the fast heat of the 5000m, seeding myself at 14:10. The workouts I've been doing indicated that that time would be a realistic goal to aim for.

The conditions were perfect and there was a rabbit thru about halfway running the pace I wanted (68s/lap) so I stuck on to that pack and gradually moved up as guys fell off. I hung in right on pace for about half way and then starting slipping, but closed pretty well to finish in 14:15. Watching the video, I got stuck behind a guy just long enough to break contact with the guys ahead of me and then I just lost it. A good time and right around where I thought I would run. The time is a school record and a seven second PR. My splits went something like 68 68 68 68 68 68 69 70 70 70 66 28.

In two weekends I plan on racing in the fast heat of the 5k at the Larry Ellis invitational. Last year I won the slow heat in 14:22 and the fast heat was won in under 14. My goal is just to try and maintain contact at that pace for as long as possible and see if I can keep it up a little bit longer than this week. Hopefully this will squeeze a couple more seconds out and I can run another PR.

NIRCA Track Nationals

The first ever NIRCA nationals was at the University of Indiana, about a 13 hour drive from Newark. I ran the mile (prelims and finals) and anchored the DMR. My goal for the meet was to win both as easily as possible and get through the weekend without much wear and tear.

The mile prelims on Saturday were an easy qualifier. I won the first heat and had the second fastest qualifier behind Josh, another UD guy. Sunday morning had some thunderstorms but cleared up after a half hour delay. The mile final had nice weather, and Josh went into it hoping to run under 4:20. Since it was a final it was tactical and he ended up leading through three laps and the 3 guys sitting on him (me included). With a lap to go the other guys started moving so I kicked for the last 400 and cruised it in once I knew I had the win. I closed in around 57 and it felt pretty comfortable for being that quick.

After that, the sun came out and it got warm and humid. An hour and a half after the mile we ran the DMR against only three other teams and made no contest of it. I just wanted to get in a good effort and run at 5k goal pace and I split about 4:31, which was right where I wanted to be.

The meet was run pretty well and I definitely give NIRCA credit for being able to run the first ever track meet without any major hitches, even with the uncooperative weather. It was very well done, but the 13 hour drive is a big hassle for us on the east coast. Other than that, the weekend went great and I hope NIRCA gets more participation in the coming years. It is a great thing for the casual runner and the atmosphere of fun competition is a good draw for more club runners. NIRCA is still a young organization but has definitely done well so far.